Cold Front

FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT COLD FRONT - PAGE 5

Winds down power lines Gusty winds from a brief Tuesday evening rain storm kept Washington County 911 dispatchers busy with a calls for downed trees and power lines. Hard-driving rain and winds peaking at 40 to 60 mph downed wires in Hagerstown, Sharpsburg and Rohrersville, dispatchers said. Trees and wires in the city were knocked down on Brown Avenue Terrace and a window at a business on East Baltimore Street was smashed during the 9 p.m. storm., Hagerstown City Police said.

High winds coupled with a low moisture level on the ground will raise the threat for fire today in the Hagerstown area, according to the National Weather Service. The moisture level in the ground today will be 5 to 7 percent, which is low, said Heather Sheffield, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sterling, Va. “Anything above 8 (percent), we don't have to worry about,” Sheffield said. A fire weather watch will be in effect for the area this afternoon, when wind gusts could reach 60 mph by late afternoon, the weather service said.

The National Weather Service placed Washington County under a wind warning through at least 7 a.m. today, as winds were expected to be at least 40 mph through the night, Meteorologist John Darnley said. Darnley said National Weather Service staff will evaluate changing the warning today at noon. A wind warning means winds will be at least 40 mph, meaning driving conditions, including visibility problems - mixed with light snow - are a concern, Darnley said. "It's gonna get a little worse before it gets better," Darnley said Saturday about 5 p.m. At that time, north to northwest winds were averaging 33 mph, the result of a cold front and a strong low pressure center, coupled with high pressure from the southwest moving through the area Friday night.

HAGERSTOWN - With a high temperature of 94 degrees, Tuesday matched June 8 as the month's hottest day in Hagerstown, according to a local weather observer. Tuesday's high was recorded at 4:27 p.m., according to www.i4weather.net , a Web site maintained by Greg Keefer. Temperatures today could reach 92 degrees, Accuweather meteorologist Chris Beatty said. A cold front moving in Thursday might bring some "run-of-the-mill summertime thunderstorms" late Thursday into Friday, Beatty said.

Hagerstown is in for some rainy spring weather this week, according to the National Weather Service. The weather system that just moved through the area dropped 0.54 inch of rain in the city, the weather service said. The forecast also calls for a chance of rain again today, Friday and Saturday. The precipitation is being caused by a single weather system with different areas of low pressure expected to travel along its frontal boundary, said Trina Heiser, a technician with the weather service's office in Sterling, Va. The chance of rain today is 30 percent and Thursday's forecast is mostly cloudy with a high near 66 degrees, the weather service said.

Tuesday turned out to be a confusing day for local weather observers. The morning brought snow and other icy precipitation, and by late afternoon, a thunderstorm moved through the Hagerstown area. Such things can happen in winter, said Heather Sheffield, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sterling, Va. The thunderstorm was the result of a line of showers ahead of a cold front, and the contrasting systems created instability in the atmosphere, Sheffield said.

It was bound to happen eventually. It's January, and there hasn't been any significant snowfall in the Hagerstown area for more than a month. But the good news is that the snow forecast for tonight shouldn't amount to much. The National Weather Service said there was a 70 percent chance of snow overnight, although forecasters say accumulations should be on the light side, at 1 to 3 inches. Be prepared for frosty temperatures, though. Nighttime lows for the next three nights will dip into the teens, forecasters say. On Thursday night, the wind chill could reach 5 below zero, according to National Weather Service Technician Trina Heiser.

A fast-moving thunderstorm swept through Washington County on Thursday morning, and more strong storms could be on the way later in the day. The morning thunderstorm, which moved north and east through Berkeley County, W.Va., to Washington County and into Frederick County at 40 miles per hour between 7 and 8 a.m., dropped 0.36 inch of rain on Hagerstown and produced winds up to 29 mph, according to weather observer Greg Keefer's website....

The first heat wave of 2011 has officially come and gone, according to the National Weather Service. Temperatures spiked into the low 90s Monday and continued scorching the area through Wednesday afternoon. A cold front that brought more thunderstorms along the Mason-Dixon Line was responsible for ending the spring heat wave Wednesday, the weather service said. Three straight days of temperatures above 90 degrees constitute a heat wave, said Joe Ceru, a weather service meteorologist in State College, Pa. In Harrisburg, Pa., the nearest measured point to Franklin County, Pa., temperatures have been above 90 degrees since Monday, he said.

shappell@herald-mail.com HAGERSTOWN - What was the first day of the year felt to many like the first day of spring or baseball season as temperatures in Hagerstown hit a record high. The temperature in Hagerstown was 65 degrees at 1:20 p.m. Saturday, breaking the record of 64 degrees for the date set in 1985, according to weather observer Greg Keefer's Web site, www.i4weather.net. The high temperature on Jan. 1, 2004, reached 48 degrees, while the thermometer reached 47 degrees on the first day of 2003, and 32 degrees on Jan. 1, 2002.